WINDS OF UNDECLARED WAR
Published on 8 August 2007 in Prayer MobilizationSource: MEN for NATIONS
Operation Prayer Surge, a project of 2nd Edition August 2007
MEN FOR NATIONS Washington, D.C.
WINDS OF UNDECLARED WAR
& Answered Prayers
Answered Prayer – Moscow “Footdragging” on Iran’s Bushehr Project
In June, we reported that on June 8, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow had released to Iran the nuclear fuel it had withheld for many months for Iran’s atomic reactor in Bushehr. Prayers are being answered. On July 26, 2007, Ivan Istomin, head of the Energoprogress, the Russian subcontractor building the plant, announced that the Bushehr reactor cannot be completed by the fall of 2007 as suggested by Iranian authorities and will only be commissioned a year later. Energoprogress is building the -billion nuclear facility in southern Iran under a 1995 contract and under UN supervision. Construction has been delayed due to payment failures. The Bushehr nuclear reactor is too big and expensive for research, and too small to be for power generation. Its size – about 40 MGw – is large enough to produce enough fissile material for nuclear weapons.
An official report from Itar-Tass news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak that the nuclear power station would not be completed until early 2008. This seemed to confirm the contractor quote as a policy move that might have had its origins in the July 14 meetings between Presidents Bush and Putin.
CONTINUE PRAYING THAT IRANIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT PLANS BE DEFEATED AND FOR SUCCESSFUL NEUTRALIZATION OF THE NUCLEAR FACILITIES IN IRAN.
Damascus and Tehran collaborate for war
We previously reported that Syrian and Iranian generals met in Damascus during the week of June 9, 2007, to discuss preparations for war this summer. Joint war preparations between the nations continue:
- On June 25, the British Daily telegraph reported that Tehran was establishing a missile defense shield for Syria and preparing to ship sophisticated military hardware, including dozens of medium-range Shahab-3 and Russian made Scud-C and Scud-B missiles. Syria is producing non-conventional warheads, including some with VX gas, to deliver using these missiles. All of Israel’s cities are within range of these missiles.
- On July 7, the Jerusalem Post reported that Tehran was purchasing 250 advanced long-rage Sukhoe-30 fighter jets and aerial tankers that would give Iran long-range offensive capabilities.
- A series of editorials mid-July in the Lebanese daily al-Mustaqbal warned of a planned coup in Lebanon spearheaded by Hezbollah and backed by Iran and Syria. The paper, which is close to the pro-government March 14 Movement, recited Hezbollah's military preparations, including military activity both south and north of the Litani River, in defiance of U.N. Resolution 1701; and the transformation of the Bekaa region into a military zone. On July 5, 2007, the Iranian News Agency IRNA reported that Syrian authorities issued a warning all Syrian citizens in Lebanon to leave by July 15, 2007. Other reports suggested that an alternative government might be declared by Hezbollah and its allies by mid-July.
- On July 16, 2007, the UN Security Council met and expressed “concerns” about Syrian smuggling of arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon in violation of UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Lebanese conflict and prohibited arms shipments.
PRAY CONFUSION INTO THE COUNCILS OF WAR IN SYRIA AND IRAN AND DEFEAT FOR THEIR PLANS.
Israeli Victories in Gaza Strip
The Givati Brigade of the IDF conducted a 22 hour operation in the Beit Hanoun region of the Gaza strip in the first weekend in July. Eight Kassam rocket launchers aimed at Sderot were seized. Eleven Palestinian terrorists, members of Hamas, and Islamic Jihad were killed.
CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR DEFEAT OF HAMAS FORCES SEEKING THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL, AND THAT ROUTES AND TUNNELS SMUGGLING WEAPONS INTO GAZA THROUGH EGYPT BE SHUT DOWN.
Successes in Fardh al-Qanoon (FAQ) – Operation Surge in Iraq
As previously reported, operation Fardh al-Qanoon (FAQ) was launched on Feb. 14, 2007. Its mission was to increase security and contain sectarian violence by focusing efforts on 10 districts in Baghdad. At the request of U.S. commanders in Iraq, President George W. Bush authorized a surge of troops in Iraq, including five Brigade Combat Teams and commensurate combat support forces. The last troops for this surge arrived in June.
Numerous reports point to recent success of anti-insurgent operations dubbed OPERATION PHANTOM THUNDER, which included 12 Iraqi security brigades:
- Operation Marne Torch has seen 300-500 insurgents killed or captured and 60 large enemy weapons caches seized. The weapons caches contained mortars, rockets, and improvised explosive device (“IED”) components. Most of these victories came from tips provided by local Iraqis who are fed up with Al Qaeda and are cooperating with Iraqi security and US forces.
- The surge has targeted four enemy sanctuaries in areas previously without a significant presence by security forces harboring Sunni, Shiite and Al Qaeda insurgents. One focus was the Sunni insurgents in the Tigris River valley region, including the Arab Jabour area south of Baghdad.
- Operation Marne Avalanche is focused on Sunni and Shiite insurgents in the Euphrates River valley. The operation Apprehended an Al Qaeda leader believed to be responsible for the downing of a US helicopter in April of 2006, and killing two soldiers in June 2006.
- On July 12, 2007, a patrol east of the Tigris destroyed 40 Iranian-supplied rockets aimed at US Troops. Other troops have found numerous rocket-propelled grenades and other munitions with Iranian markings. The Iranian weapons are being trucked into Iraq from the border in Wasit province, mostly for delivery to Shiite-backed insurgents.
- In Baqubah, troops uncovered a courthouse, jail, execution and torture chambers in what commanders described as an Al Qaeda “shadow government.” Over 120 deeply buried IEDs and booby-trapped houses were cleared and destroyed.
- In Mosul, local residents led Iraqi and Coalition forces to a weapons cache and a large bomb factory, where insurgents were assembling four truck bombs and two car bombs in a makeshift assembly line. Thirty-two suspected terrorists were arrested. On August 1, 2007, Coalition forces captured the alleged “Sniper Emir” of Mosul – a senior Al Qaeda operative who supervised 10-15 operatives.
- In Anbar province, troops discovered an IED production facility. Sixty-six IEDs and bomb-making components were seized. This may have constituted 70% of the IEDs in that area, resulting in a 40% drop in the number of attacks there.
- In Diyala province, coordination between local tribes and security were a key factor in the the detention or killing of 100 Al Qaeda operatives and the capture of multiple weapons caches.
- In Baghdad’s Sadr city, Iraqi Special Forces detained a leader of a kidnapping, murder and IED cell who provided false identification, uniforms, and vehicles to insurgents.
- Two senior Al Qaeda leaders were among those killed June 23 south of Hawija in Tamim province.
PRAY FOR THE VICTORY OF THE COALITION OF US AND IRAQI TROOPS IN BAGHDAD AND THESE SURROUNDING PROVINCES. PRAISE GOD THAT THE “SURGE” OF TROOPS IS PREVENTING THE RELOCATION OF INSURGENTS IN OTHER PARTS OF IRAQ AFTER THEIR DEFEAT BY COALITION FORCES.
MRAP Program to Combat Epidemic of Improvised Electronic Devices (IEDs)Spreading Across the Middle East
Our last report focused on the extensive damage caused by IED’s to US Troops. Commanders have estimated that 75% of troop casualties are caused by these devices. A major effort to combat these devices is underway in a campaign being pushed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to deliver “Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (“MRAP”) armored vehicles. Approvals have been secured for .2 billion that will rush 3500 vehicles to Iraq by December 31, 2007. An additional .2 billion will enable the DOD to increase that order by 2650 to 6415. An expedited shipment to Marine forces in Anbar province enabled several hundred of these vehicles to be a part of the military successes in that province.
PRAY FOR EXPEDITED PRODUCTION AND SHIPMENT OF THE MRAP VEHICLES TO PROTECT US AND IRAQI TROOPS. PRAY FOR DISRUPTION OF THE SYRIAN SMUGGLING NETWORKS THAT DISTRIBUTE THE “IED” DEVICES.
Goal of US Security Strategy - defeat the terrorists and neutralize the insurgency, AND transfer security to Iraqi troops overseen by stable Iraqi provincial and national government.
Military victories of Operation Prayer Surge were successful, and ultimate victory depends upon:
-Cooperation from increasingly stable provincial governments,
-Growing numbers of Iraqi Army units are capable of coordinating, planning, and executing security operations independent of Coalition forces. As of June of 2007, 95 Iraqi Army battalions were leading security in more than half of Iraq’s territory involving over 18 provinces. For a slide show on this progress see http://www.defenselink.mil/home/dodupdate/iraq-update/Handovers/index.html.
As of May 30, 2005, there were nearly 350,000 trained and equipped Iraqi Security Forces, and
-Political stability of the government in Baghdad. Recent resignations of Shiite leaders from the Parliament must be reversed.
PRAY FOR POLITICAL STABILITY IN EVERY IRAQI PROVINCE, IN THE IRAQI PARLIAMENT AND SUCCESS OF THE OVERALL COALITION STRATEGY IN IRAQ.
PRAISE GOD FOR THE ANSWERS TO PRAYER!
PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR VICTORY OF
THE US, IRAQI, AND ISRAELI TROOPS.
The above information was summarized from various press reports,
online DOD Pentagon briefings and Internet blogging sources
